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TAMPA — Evan Longoria signed his ceremonial one-day contract, pulled on the size 44 Rays jersey with No. 3 on the back — the same as when he played — noted it still fit and said, “maybe I will play tonight.”
He was joking, of course, but he looked quite capable and certainly comfortable back in the familiar jersey as he official retired Saturday — as a Ray.
“This always felt like the place for me,” said Longoria, 39. “I always felt comfortable putting on the Rays jersey. ...
“It feels really good to be able to come back and put this jersey on and kind of celebrate what we created here.”
The Rays’ era of success started basically with Longoria, who was drafted in 2006, the first year owner Stuart Sternberg ran the team known at the time as the Devil Rays. Longoria reached the majors in 2008, when they rebranded to the Rays and launched their extended run of success.
Sternberg spoke a lot Saturday about how Longoria helped build that new foundation.
“It’s a memorable day for us to celebrate the most memorable Ray of all, and I imagine that’s going to be like that for decades and decades to come,” Sternberg said.
“You’re looking at the person who was the most transformative player we’ve had by leaps and bounds. We’ve had some great, great players over the years, wonderful people, but nobody put those two together as much as Evan Longoria. ...
“The things he did on and especially off the field and in the clubhouse, again, they were transformative,” Sternberg continued. “And any and all successes we have to this day are somehow tied back to Evan joining us.”
Longoria said it worked out so well partly because of how bad the Rays had been (winning as many as 70 games only once from their 1998 debut through 2007).
That was what allowed them to take him third overall in the 2006 draft — after Kansas City made Luke Hochevar the No. 1 pick and Colorado selected Greg Reynolds second — and for Longoria to have the opportunity to make a relatively sudden impact.
“I felt like the Rays, obviously, we weren’t very good before that,” Longoria said. “But when I was drafted by the Rays, I looked at it as ... if I played well and I was able to kind of be the player that I thought I could be, I had a pretty clear path to getting to the big leagues pretty quickly, which I think is every young player’s goal.
“So, I was excited to be drafted by the team that was the worst team in the league for quite a long time up to that point.
Longoria joined the Rays a week and a half into the 2008 season and was a key part of one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history, as they went from 96 losses in 2007 to the World Series a year later (losing to the Phillies in five games).
With Longoria as their leading man, the Rays made the postseason three more times in the next four seasons. He earned the 2008 American League Rookie of the Year award, three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger, and made three All-Star appearances.
He also hit one of the most memorable homers in baseball history, a 12th-inning walkoff shot in Game 162 of the 2011 season to get the Rays into the playoffs. He signed two hefty contracts that guaranteed him around $150 million, and expected to be a Ray for life.
That changed after the 2017 season when Erik Neander — in his first deal after taking over as head of baseball operations — traded him to the Giants to offload the bulk of his contract.
Longoria played six more seasons — five with the Giants and 2023 with the Diamondbacks — but never got the chance to return to Tropicana Field as a visitor. He sat out last season without officially retiring.
When people asked, Longoria said he hadn’t made any decisions about his future, but that wasn’t true.
“I was not even really deciding what I was going to do, because I already knew what I wanted to do,” he said. “I knew I wanted to come back here and end my career somehow as a Ray.”
There were some logistics to navigate, and they changed when the Rays had to relocate to Steinbrenner Field for the season due to damage from Hurricane Milton to Tropicana Field. Eventually, a plan materialized.
Longoria would officially retire as a Ray on Saturday, then have a bigger celebration next year after the team is expected to return to the Trop.
Saturday was still pretty festive.
Longoria visited before the game with manager Kevin Cash, who earlier told several stories of how Longoria guided him — in some gentler ways than others in his first years as a manager. Longoria signed jerseys for current players who had ordered them from the team gift shop. He met and talked with Junior Caminero, the team’s new rising young third baseman.
Longoria walked from the Rays dugout onto the field before Saturday’s game to a roaring ovation from fans wearing commemorative T-shirts, waved to the crowd and signed some autographs, watched a scoreboard video of career highlights, threw a strike to Cash on the first pitch and acknowledged the fans again.
The opportunity to retire as a Rays was important, he said.
“It just felt like the right thing to do.”
• • •
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He was joking, of course, but he looked quite capable and certainly comfortable back in the familiar jersey as he official retired Saturday — as a Ray.
“This always felt like the place for me,” said Longoria, 39. “I always felt comfortable putting on the Rays jersey. ...
“It feels really good to be able to come back and put this jersey on and kind of celebrate what we created here.”
The Rays’ era of success started basically with Longoria, who was drafted in 2006, the first year owner Stuart Sternberg ran the team known at the time as the Devil Rays. Longoria reached the majors in 2008, when they rebranded to the Rays and launched their extended run of success.
Sternberg spoke a lot Saturday about how Longoria helped build that new foundation.
“It’s a memorable day for us to celebrate the most memorable Ray of all, and I imagine that’s going to be like that for decades and decades to come,” Sternberg said.
“You’re looking at the person who was the most transformative player we’ve had by leaps and bounds. We’ve had some great, great players over the years, wonderful people, but nobody put those two together as much as Evan Longoria. ...
“The things he did on and especially off the field and in the clubhouse, again, they were transformative,” Sternberg continued. “And any and all successes we have to this day are somehow tied back to Evan joining us.”
Longoria said it worked out so well partly because of how bad the Rays had been (winning as many as 70 games only once from their 1998 debut through 2007).
That was what allowed them to take him third overall in the 2006 draft — after Kansas City made Luke Hochevar the No. 1 pick and Colorado selected Greg Reynolds second — and for Longoria to have the opportunity to make a relatively sudden impact.
“I felt like the Rays, obviously, we weren’t very good before that,” Longoria said. “But when I was drafted by the Rays, I looked at it as ... if I played well and I was able to kind of be the player that I thought I could be, I had a pretty clear path to getting to the big leagues pretty quickly, which I think is every young player’s goal.
“So, I was excited to be drafted by the team that was the worst team in the league for quite a long time up to that point.
Longoria joined the Rays a week and a half into the 2008 season and was a key part of one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history, as they went from 96 losses in 2007 to the World Series a year later (losing to the Phillies in five games).
With Longoria as their leading man, the Rays made the postseason three more times in the next four seasons. He earned the 2008 American League Rookie of the Year award, three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger, and made three All-Star appearances.
He also hit one of the most memorable homers in baseball history, a 12th-inning walkoff shot in Game 162 of the 2011 season to get the Rays into the playoffs. He signed two hefty contracts that guaranteed him around $150 million, and expected to be a Ray for life.
That changed after the 2017 season when Erik Neander — in his first deal after taking over as head of baseball operations — traded him to the Giants to offload the bulk of his contract.
Longoria played six more seasons — five with the Giants and 2023 with the Diamondbacks — but never got the chance to return to Tropicana Field as a visitor. He sat out last season without officially retiring.
When people asked, Longoria said he hadn’t made any decisions about his future, but that wasn’t true.
“I was not even really deciding what I was going to do, because I already knew what I wanted to do,” he said. “I knew I wanted to come back here and end my career somehow as a Ray.”
There were some logistics to navigate, and they changed when the Rays had to relocate to Steinbrenner Field for the season due to damage from Hurricane Milton to Tropicana Field. Eventually, a plan materialized.
Longoria would officially retire as a Ray on Saturday, then have a bigger celebration next year after the team is expected to return to the Trop.
Saturday was still pretty festive.
Longoria visited before the game with manager Kevin Cash, who earlier told several stories of how Longoria guided him — in some gentler ways than others in his first years as a manager. Longoria signed jerseys for current players who had ordered them from the team gift shop. He met and talked with Junior Caminero, the team’s new rising young third baseman.
Longoria walked from the Rays dugout onto the field before Saturday’s game to a roaring ovation from fans wearing commemorative T-shirts, waved to the crowd and signed some autographs, watched a scoreboard video of career highlights, threw a strike to Cash on the first pitch and acknowledged the fans again.
The opportunity to retire as a Rays was important, he said.
“It just felt like the right thing to do.”
• • •
Sign up for our Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.
Every weekday, tune into our Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast to hear reporter Rick Stroud break down the biggest stories in Tampa Bay sports.
Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on X and Facebook.
Continue reading...
